SE Electronics Review

Stevie Wonder recommend SE Electronics!

SE Electronics are a relatively new microphone manufacturer from Shanghai who have produced some very interesting products in the last 5 years.

Their developments include the reflexion filter, the GM10 and a new collaboration with Mr Rupert Neve!

SE Reflexion Filter

The most successful product in the SE lineup is not a microphone, it’s a reflexion filter. This might be the most important investment for your home studio.

When recording with sensitive microphones you get great detail but if you are recording in an acoustically non treated environment you also get all kinds of background noise that once compressed can really interfere with the recording.

The reflexion filter solves this by surrounding the microphone with a U-shaped noise absorbent material that mounts onto the microphone stand.
In practice this means that you don’t need a vocal booth, the singer could stand in the control room and sing, blocking out background noise and even the sound of the speakers thus eliminating headphones!

This really works and tend to improve the vocal performance since the singer doesn’t have to deal with headphone mixes.

The SE reflection filter might be the best investment you ever made, you don’t need a vocal booth anymore, saving you money, space and time.

Should you still hesitate, Stevie Wonder says: “Every studio should have one, it’s exactly what I’ve been waiting for”.

If Stevie’s word is not enough I don’t know what is.

Gm10

The main problem when recording acoustic guitars is microphone placement.

Even small changes will radically change the sound, so if it comes to amending a part you will most likely find it very difficult to reproduce the same sound you had in take 1.

The Gm10 solves this by being in a fixed position. As with most SE Electronic products we get a new design that can be compared to no other product, the price is very appealing as well.

Gemini II

The Gemini II is not your average microphone; it’s not what you would call a classic design either, but a microphone that has a “sound of its own”.
Using two valves inside the microphone you get a completely unique design that delivers a very clear but still warm sound.

Valve microphones are legendary in the studio, usually a valve microphone has great warmth and produce fantastic intimacy but tend to lack in the high end.

The Gemini get the best of both worlds by adding a second valve for the output stage, replacing what the transformer would usually take care of.

The Gemini II is SE Electronics flagship and can be seen in most high-end studios the world over these days.

SE Neve RNR1

Ribbon microphones are usually used on very loud sound sources like cranked guitar amps, the natural sound a ribbon delivers is unrivaled but they do have an Achilles heal; they don’t pick up quite sounds very well. Also, the top end is not very crisp.

Consequentially ribbon mics work really well on loud valve guitar amps, but not much else.

The RNR1 is a completely new design by SE Electronics and Rupert Neve (legendary mixing console designer) who have managed to keep the qualities of the ribbon design intact but cured the two problems by adding technology that Neve used in his consoles for over 40 years, only now in a smaller circuit.

The studio world is holding its breath as SE promise to deliver a series based on this new technology.